Friday, April 30, 2010

I was so excited when I saw the sign up sheet at J's preschool. Then it hit me. I have a child that's at an age that has parent-teacher conferences? Really!? Well once the denial wore off, I realized that in fact I do have a 4 year old that is in preschool. And he does have teachers. So it made sense. Today was that blessed day. Barry was able to come to the conference, and it was very informative. We learned that Julian does have the ability to listen, be nice, and share. Hmmm so he can do it, he just doesn't at home. ;) We also heard some of what we already knew. He's a smarty-pants. He knew all of his letters (except Q) at the beginning of the year, and still knows them now, this time, including Q. He also knew all 10 of his numbers at the beginning of the year! He knew all of his shapes, all of his colors, and was able to follow instructions such as color this hat with the brown crayon.Miss Sarah said that he needs to work on running, jumping, galloping, skipping. Sooo he's not so coordinated. Who does that remind you of? Yeah, that's my boy! He's good to everyone, and doesn't just have ONE friend, though, I have noticed him talking an awful lot about the Sophies. Both Sophie R and Sophie M are his favorite girls, I think. I need to figure out what they need to know in Kindergarten. Because really, that's a year away. A YEAR. Well and a few months, but still, it's not that far out. He loves to trace things, he loves to write, color, and draw. He's a funny, delightful boy.Miss Sarah also asked if we're having a girl. Apparently, Julian told Miss Sarah that he's having a baby sister, and we're naming her Coraline. So, if you've heard that rumor, disregard it. If we do have a girl, the baby most certainly won't be named Coraline :) My sweet, sweet boy.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

You know when you're pregnant and certain things sound ZOMG SO GOOD? Like the time two weeks ago I drove 20 mins to KFC just for some coleslaw? For some reason, KFC Coleslaw is my favorite, favorite, favorite. My friend Kira posted a recipe on her blog for, yep, you guessed it, COLESLAW! I tried it out last night, and this recipe is definitely a keeper. That's how we rate our recipes. Will I ever make it again? HECK YES! If you get a yes, that recipe is a keeper for sure. I'm going to pass on to you, the one person that reads my blog, the delicious coleslaw recipe.

I will have to say, I made it a few hours before dinner, and the juices were able to soak into the cababge/carrots/onion and it was excellent. I ate copious amounts just after it was mixed together, and had a tiny serving at dinner that tasted MUCH better! So I would suggest making it a few hours before you're going to serve it. Look at that, my first recipe on my blog. LOL

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

I know. I'm pregnant. Morning sickness, totally part of the package. Except, it never has been for me before! Ugh! I'm counting down the days until my 2nd trimester starts. (It's Monday by the way.) I realize how incredibly lucky I was in my pregnancies before, and how incredibly lucky I am this time to only have hit or miss nausea and vomiting. I'm just not a fan of puking. At all. I can barely handle my kids puking. I'm just a venty venterson today, who is tired of puking, and just tired in general. Insomnia? Not my BFF. Insomnia and Morning Sickness? Lose my address, please!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

So, I had this brilliant idea. Why don't I bring BOTH boys to the doctor, at the SAME time for their Well Child Check Ups. Sounds sane enough, right? OY, I was W.R.O.N.G. First of all, their appointments were at 11:00 and 11:15. Guess what time I remembered about said appointments? 11:03! OY! So being in my PJs still (hey it was laundry/catch up day!) I ran around and threw some clothes on, threw my scary short bangs back, and got dressed. Luckily Julian didn't fight me much on putting clothes on, I think he saw that crazy look in my eye, he knew. By some miracle of miracles, Gabe was already dressed, he knew where his shoes were (in the car, and they really were there, it wasn't some stall tactic!) and he brought Julian's shoes downstairs for him! We made it to the doctor by 11:15! We walked in, and I was feeling pretty proud of myself. I mean from PJs to Doctor's Office in 12 minutes, without breaking any traffic laws? Holler! Until I saw people I knew! Ugh, no make-up, crazy post braid bangs, not good.

SO the boys are doing great. Julian, who is normally shy and reserved talked to the nurse. Passed his eye test, and was nice and kind. He was 40 1/2 inches tall (which is apparently 48%) and 38 lbs 8 oz (which is 67%). The doctor came in, and we realllly love our pediatrician. If you're looking for one in the West Des Moines/Waukee area, email me. I'll give you his info! He is really good with the kids, explains things really well, and let Julian look in Gabe's ear! Which was literally the coolest thing EVER for my little science nerd, Julian!

Gabe had to get undressed to be weighed and measured. Now where Julian wants to be in his undies, Gabe is the absolute opposite. He cried and cried and cried for his pants. Seriously. "Maaaaa pants, please?!" LOL! Seriously. He was too tall to measure on the baby table. :( He's officially growing up.He was 37 1/4" tall (94%) and 33 lbs 1 oz (91%) and his head circumference is 20 1/4" (96%). He's pretty much giant, but I think Julian was pretty close to those stats at two. Maybe a pound or two smaller? Not a huge difference.

The pediatrician noticed that his soft spot still hasn't closed up. And it's supposed to. By two. He's two. So with his 96% head, and a soft spot that hasn't closed, he's got to get an MRI. They're going to call me with the appointment time. I guess they're worried about enlarged ventrals (maybe, something like that?) and spinal fluid on his brain. I feel like he's fine, and just has a big head. Our pediatrician said, "He's always had a big head, since birth, so it's not like it just all of the sudden happened. His brother has a big head." I said, "So does his dad!" So we're not really worried, but we are. I mean baby + sedation = scary times for mommy!

So after all of that joyful information, the boys had to get a finger prick to test for lead and some blood thing, I think hematocrit. So they basically prick their finger and then squeeze it to fill this little tube. My boys thought that was the COOLEST thing ever. Gross. But they didn't cry and happily let the LPN squeeze their little fingers. Gabe was mighty proud of his bandaid he sported on his pointer finger.

Then? It was shot time. We're pro vaccines in our house. And Julian needed four. He needed four and he won't have any more vaccines until MIDDLE SCHOOL! Say what?! Middle School? Age 11? Whoa. That freaks me out. He was happy though he wouldn't have anymore for seven years. Freaky. Until the nurse came in to do them. Then he flipped out. And the doctor had to come help me hold him down. Really, the doctor could have done it all, because once he came in Julian became all respectful, and not kicky and stuff. Weird. So we did Julian first, and then Gabe. Gabe only got one. And he didn't even cry.

Julian was mighty mad about his shots. He kept asking me why he had to get shots. So I told him. I said something cool like, Shots make you big and tough and scary. They scare away all of the bad diseases. (Because ya know, he's four, and is really big on being tough, and scary.) So he said, "Mommy, so my roar will be bigger now?" Yes Julian, your roar will be bigger.

Monday, April 26, 2010

So I have this *thing* for Pella. I love it. So much. When my parents and sister were here in August, we went to Pella. When my BFF Stacy was here in June?! we went to Pella. We went to Pella last year for Tulip time, and a million and a half times in between. There's a park in Pella, that Julian calls the Spinny Park, that has a merry-go-round, all old school. We LOVE Pella. Julian request to go to that Spinny Park ALL the time.

I had heard that the tulips were blooming early this year. We've had a warm spring! (Holler, thank you for that! After 4 months of straight snow, we deserve a warm spring!) And the tulips were definitely in bloom (2 weeks before tulip time!) when we went there Saturday! After a delicious breakfast at Perkins, we decided to drive out to Pella. I recently finished the text/lessons for Unit 2 in my photography class, and what a better place to take photos than picturesque Pella? Seriously? I'm not sure if I got the pictures for my class, but I sure got some good ones of my kids!

Monday, April 19, 2010

So while I was in Washington, I got my hair done by my super talented BFF Carly. Seriously, if you're in Washington, she's in Sumner, and she's amazing. Anyway, I was toying with the idea of cutting my bangs again. The thing with bangs? They grow. Fast. So I decided to do it, but then we flew home, and I didn't get to see Carly again before we left. Fast forward to a week after being home. The boys in the house, Barry, Julian and Gabe needed hair cuts. There's a girl at Great Clips that does an amazing job with Julian. You might remember Julian Got A Haircut. I didn't post the gory details, but seriously he was crying/screaming/thrashing. It was an experience I never, ever want to repeat. This girl at Great Clips? She gave him a lollipop (so did we) and just had at his hair. He sat quietly, smiled when she joked, and even talked to her. It was a miracle. We brought Gabe along, because he'd never been. And he has a hard time when Barry and Julian go do fun things, like the dentist, or the doctor, or hair cuts. He sat and watched J, and then when Julian was done, stood up and said, "Mom? Hair cut?" He walked over to the lollipop basket, picked one, and walked over to the chair. When did he turn 12? He got a hair cut too. He sat perfectly, and she did a much better job than I've done in the past!

So I decided, what the hay. I'll get my bangs trimmed, only $5. So while G was getting his hair cut, I went to the other girl and had her trim my bangs. I said yeah just trim 'em up.

This is what she did.

I'm pretty sure I'll be growing out my bangs until I'm 30. Luckily, I can still pin them back.

So as most of you know, or at least should know, I love Twilight. I love the books, I love the cheeseball movie, I love Carlisle. I just love everything about them. And I love that they're set in WASHINGTON! You know it's gotta be good when it's set in Washington. Case in point? Grey's Anatomy, Sleepless in Seattle...I could go on, but you get the point. However, I lived in Washington for 24 years, and had never been to FORKS! Shocking right? Well not so much, when you consider (according to Wikipedia) the population is somewhere around 3120. And considering it's a logging town. With not many attractions, not many that is, until Twilight.

Now? They have a WHOLE store, called "Dazzled by Twilight". I love it. The cheesiness just sings to me! It was a pretty sweet store, with the meadow grass for carpet, and twinkle lights for stars, and anything Twilight you could ever imagine. I walked out of there with a Twilight onesie (now i just hope that the baby is a girl, because I just can't do a Twilight onesie on a boy :( ) , Carlisle chapstick, mmmm, a million postcards, some breath mints that were in a cute tin that said Mrs Cullen (That's Carlisle Cullen y'all. I told you, I have a thing for doctors!)

The best part of the 3 hour trip (yes folks, Forks/La Push is 3 hours away from my mom's house!) was my BFF Stacy. We had so much fun talking, laughing, singing. I love her so much, because we can just be stupid, and we don't care.

OK, before we get into the actual FORKS pics, here's Gabe eating a Krispy Kreme. I ate SO many freaking donuts, I blame them soley for my vacay weight gain.

Heck Yes

Forks High School-Eep I trespassed!

This made me LAUGH! Pretty sure Newton's didn't own a True Value...

This also made me LAUGH! Home Slice? Pretty much the best pizza place name EVER!

This said Forks...so I took a picture

And look at this love-muffin! He was such a good boy!

OK so that was Forks. Then we drove to La Push. La Push? Totally worth the drive. I'm in LOVE!First Beach

Saturday, April 17, 2010

So Thursday, before preschool, Julian somehow managed to convince me to take him to the science center, after preschool! He reallllllly wanted to see the baby bat that they have in a cave. (For the record that bat is fake. But he loves it.) The cave is dark and spooky, with bat sounds. It freaks Gabe out. Julian? The little creep loves bats. And bugs, and snakes and boy things. Gross.

We went, had fun at the science center, after a delicious lunch at Palmer's Deli with daddy. For those of you in Des Moines, or those of you that visit Des Moines sometimes (HEATHER!) you have to try it! It gets crazy busy at lunch time, but I loooove their Caesar Salad.

We took my car, a 2002 Ford Explorer, to the dealership to get the air conditioner recharged. We had to go to Target after the drop off to pick up my antibiotic, and got a trauma inducing phone call from the dealership. Ford Guy-"Hi is this Barry Palizzi?"Barry-"Yes, this is Barry."FG-"HI. There's a leak in your air conditioner, it's leaking freon into (insert some car part here). It's going to be $925 to fix it."B-Stunned silence. "Uhm, wow. Oh. Wow. Uhm, well we can't afford $925 right now."FG-"Oh. Well, ok yeah. We'll get it put back together then."

I'd done some research. And by research asked my friends on facebook about the cost to recharge an air conditioning. You see, they all said about $200. Which we can afford, and were expecting. I'd also learned from my friend Chrissy that an air conditioning system is a closed system. Which means that if it stops working, duh, there's a leak. You see, her husband is a mechanic. And he said that they can just recharge it.

Once Barry relayed this info to me, I told him what he needed to say to the mechanic.

"I realize that an air conditioning is a closed system, and that there is a leak, or else it would still work. Please just refill the freon, and we'll take our chances with the leak."FG-"Well we can't guarantee that it won't just leak out tomorrow."B-"I realize that."FG-"OK. We have to fix a recall thing, so it'll be a little while longer."

Fast forward to 10:30 pm (our kids were still awake because we had to drive to the dealership to pick up my car.) FG-"It didn't leak out!"B-"Good."FG-"So it will be $117. Your car takes 33 (some form of measurement) and we only had to put in 19."

And guess what? My a/c works! This preggo can not survive 100+ weather, with a million % humidity without a/c! I told Barry he owes me $800...he didn't like that idea very much.

So we went to bed, and my kids slept all glorious night! And then we woke up to this:

Yeah. In the words of Julian, (who was sleeping while the eviction took place) "Mommy! Is that the bat from the science center? Or is it Laura's bat?" LOL! I told him it was the one from the science center. Because I knew it would make him happy. It did. And he still feels proud of the bat that came to visit. Barry and I? Not so much.

Thank GOD Barry was home to deal with this situation. I would have left the house and not come home. Seriously. Barry took a bucket and a piece of cardboard and MacGuyver'd this little guy out of our house! He is now back home in his bat cave. And this morning, you'd better believe I tip toed downstairs, I didn't want to have a repeat of yesterday!

Friday, April 16, 2010

So this morning, my children blessed me by sleeping from 10:00 pm (loooooooooooooooooooong story as to why they were up so freaking late) until well, now. They're still sleeping. The night before last they woke up, and were up for two hours. For NO reason. Well I mean Julian had a reason, he was crying because on Tuesday, he was "teacher's helper" at preschool. And some other kid did his job? So he was super upset. At. Three. AM. Not amused. Then Gabe woke up, and then they didn't sleep. So I laid down with Gabe who then proceeded to smack me, kick me, put his curling toes on my back, until I refused. I said GOODNIGHT and went back into my bed. Where my back is toe free.

Anyway, Barry's alarm went off this morning so he could go for a run. It's an Army thing. He has to pass the PT test soon, before he can go to Texas in July. When it went off, I woke up. It was kind of amazing to wake up to an alarm clock. Something that is designed to wake you up, though I guess technically I have two of those, right? And I was so excited to realize that I'd not been woken at all during the night, that I couldn't fall back to sleep!

And then I had to pee. Intelligender requires first morning urine. So I got up. I voluntarily got up at 5:45 in the morning. Who am I?

Well the Intelligender results are ambiguous at best. I swear when you look at the "girl" side it looks orange-ish brown, if you look at the "boy" side it looks greenish-brown. So I'm going to post the pictures, you decide.

OK upon further review, it appears more brownish/orange in color than green...so should I buy some of that ballet pink paint I was looking at.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

As you know, (or should by now) Julian is addicted to chocolate. Seriously. Chocolate was his first word. Caco is what he used to call it. So it shouldn't be a big surprise that he wanted a CHOCOLATE birthday cake.Thank you Safeway bakery for the deliciousness.

This? This is what four looks like. (And why I gave him a bath BEFORE cake/ice cream? I don't know.)

I'm not sure what he's more excited about at this point. Fire, and blowing out the candles or cake :)

Julian and his BFF Grandma (PS Mom, he said when you come to Iowa, you have to stay here FOREVER.)

Siiiiinging

Blowing out the candles and making a wish!

We were supposed to go to the bouncy place for Julian's birthday, with his cousins, Brandon and Carter, but my kids got this random cough/cold/allergy thing, that never really went away. Annoying! So instead, we played Little Big Planet, watched movies, probably went to the store. Oh! We went to Mexican. Where Julian and Gabe had Mac & Cheese and FRENCH FRIES. At a Mexican restaurant! Who's kids are they? I do remember Gabe dipping his chips in salsa though! (That's my boy!)

Oh Thursday, the 18th, I was able to go up to Carly's house, and get my hair did. Kind of a crazy picture. My mom took it.

My parents had an awards event to go to on Thursday night. Look how cute! My dad won an award for his building! He actually had two buildings nominated in the same category. Now that's a Monopoly I can live with :)

Gabe LOVES to take peekurs (pictures)

Gabe attacking my mom with stickers!

And Julian and Preston watching Tom and Jerry. (Yeah the old school cartoon! They looooove it!)

Monday, April 12, 2010

So I've been home from Washington for 2 weeks now. That should be enough time to catch up on laundry, finish unpacking the house, get all settled in, right? Too bad it's not. I'm procrastinating, and blogging :)

So. I found out that I was officially pregnant on Monday March 1st. I knew that we were going to Washington the following Saturday, so I made plans to announce my pregnancy to my parents. I'd found these adorable Big Brother shirts at TJ Maxx for $5 each the week before. (I'm an optimist, I knew I'd be pregnant eventually...) So I bought them, and planned on the boys wearing them on the plane.

The boys did great on the two planes. The first leg was from Des Moines to Minneapolis. A nice 45 minute flight. We got there on time. It was great. Just long enough to keep them interested, and not so long that they got bored. We got off the plane, and ran to our next gate, and that was the leg I was worried about. About 4 hours. Stuck. On a plane. With my kids. So we got some cookies and drinks from the airport gift shop (Why doesn't the airport sell pepsi products? I'm not a Coke fan, anymore. And I really wanted a diet Pepsi.) and boarded our plane. The boys, amazingly enough, fell asleep right before take off. And slept for about an hour. Then they got wiggly. But it was all ok. They must have done well because a lady two rows back looked at us shocked and said, "I had no idea kids were even up here. They're good." And this cute old man said they were well behaved.

So. We landed in Seattle. Julian swore he saw Grandma's house as we were flying over the sound. And we were as far away from baggage claim as humanely possible. We rode the train, which I think was the highlight of the experience for the boys. And met my parents at baggage claim. I had tried lugging both suitcases, the stroller and my boys, but it didn't work. So we just waited.

Gabe, who is typically very shy and reserved was SO excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. He immediately started talking, which is very unlike him, but definitely welcome. Julian ran to my mom and gave her a huge hug (Dad too!)

You can see how OK Gabe is. No tears, nothing! I was proud of him!

It took a while for my parents to get the whole "Big Brother" thing. Julian even told my mom as we were walking to the car, "I'm going to have a baby sister." (I told you, he says it's a sister. And that's it.)

As soon as we got to Grandma and Grandpas, the boys went outside and played in the sandbox with Grandpa. Julian also managed to sweet talk Grandpa into some ice cream

Looks like G got some too!

We went up to Winco, where my little sister Jessica, works. We visited her for a bit, got some essentials, fruit snacks, sour patch kids, Easter candy. The usual. And then went back down to my mom's.

Saturday afternoon, my BFF Stacy, the fabulous photographer had her third baby. Ewan Jack. I'd told her that he should wait for his auntie, and she didn't like that idea. But that's exactly what he did :)

Sunday morning, Carly (My other BFF who is a fabulous hair stylist) went up to the hospital to visit her.

It's a good thing I was already pregnant at this point, or he? He would make me want another baby.

Carly and I went to Applebees, without kids. It was amazing. We were totally on a date, and shared an appetizer, buffalo wings (which seriously the thought of now, makes me want to vomit. Crazy pregnancy), a burger, which was realllllly good, and a blondie brownie for desert. (Sooo that's where the 8 lbs I gained over vacation came from.)

Then my family came down Sunday afternoon. Insert part one of the Preston/Gabe feud. They don't love each other. Preston loves Julian. Julian tolerates Preston, until he hits/pushes/punches Gabe. Then he gets all big brother.

Jess and Gabe

Cheeseball

That's all I'm going to post for Part One. Tune in for Part Two. Maybe tomorrow? I'm still uploading pictures...it's been an hour. The boys are revolting. Gabe turned off Dora. :)